SEOUL -- Kang Je-gyu, who helmed Korea's most successful movie "Shiri" -- the pic that put Korea on the map as an important world force in film -- is making a comeback.
Kang has started filming "Tae Guk Gi," a tragedy set during the Korean War. The movie went into production on Feb. 10 and will be shot over the next eight months for an early 2004 release.
"This will be a work of great scale targeting releases in Europe, the U.S., South America and China," Kang said during the press launch on Feb. 5.
The project is budgeted at $11.5 million, the highest budget for any Korean film. It is about $2 million more than the current record holder, director Jang Sun-woo's "Resurrection of the Little Match Girl," which bombed at local theaters last year.
Kangjegyu Film, which is producing "Tae Guk Gi," hopes to fund part of it through foreign investments.
"Tae Guk Gi" is about a single mother and her elder son, Jin-tae, a bootblack, who both hope that the younger son, Jin-suk, will enter the university and make a good life for himself.
When war breaks out in 1950, Jin-suk is sent into battle and the only way for him to be released from service is for Jin-tae to volunteer for a suicide mission. Jin-suk, however, misunderstands Jin-tae's intentions as a search for fame and glory, and realizes only too late that his brother is sacrificing himself for him. "Tae Guk Gi" is the name of Korea's national flag, whose use was banned between 1910 and 1945 during the Japanese occupation.
Project is drawing high media attention, including for its cast with in-demand actors Jang Dong-gun ("Nowhere to Hide" and "2009 Lost Memories") and Won Bin (TV star, "Guns & Talks").
Kang debuted as a director in 1996 with award-winning "The Gingko Bed," a mythical love story, which he also wrote, that became the biggest B.O. hit of the year with total admissions of 1.6 million.
His second feature, "Shiri" (1999), became a landmark work, drawing 6 million viewers nationwide and sparking major commercial exposure for Korean films in overseas markets.
"Given director Kang's reputation and the original storyline, we have no doubt that 'Tae Guk Gi' will be one of the most anticipated films for 2004, not only in Korea but in those markets that are fast becoming fans of Korean movies," says Cody Kim, assistant manager of overseas marketing at Kangjegyu Films.
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